Scientists Find Direct Link Between Brain and Immune System

June 25, 2015 | 137,151 views

Addendum by; Dr. Jewel Pookrum

By Dr. Mercola
A new discovery by a team of researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) “may call for a reassessment of basic assumptions in neuroimmunology” (a field involved in the study of the nervous system and the immune system).1
A direct link between the brain and the immune system, via lymphatic vessels that were not previously known to exist, was found. Similar to blood vessels, which carry blood throughout your body, lymphatic vessels carry immune cells throughout your body.
However, it was long believed that such vessels stopped before reaching the brain. The new discovery, which detected lymphatic vessels beneath a mouse’s skull, could open new avenues for understanding autism, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, and many other diseases.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that your brain, your immune system and your gut microbes are intricately linked. Autism, for instance, is associated with gastrointestinal problems and potentially an over-reaction in the immune system. As reported by io9:2
“Moreover, neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s have long been linked to changes in immune system function, and autoimmune diseases of the gut, like Crohn’s disease, correlate with psychiatric illness.”
It wasn’t always clear how such connections occurred, but now both a gut-brain axis and a pathway from your immune system into your brain have been uncovered.
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